The story of Esther was told in a new dimension on Sunday at TPH by Mrs Rapu. I was intrigued by the way she explained the story in a way that I had never even thought of before.

King Ahasuerus reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia (Esther 1). He was an extremely wealthy king and his wealth was acknowledged by all. He decided to show off his wealth and possessions. After showing off all he could, he decide to have his wife, the beautiful Queen Vashti parade her beauty in the presence of all his guests which included kings and princes of other kingdoms, principalities and provinces. But as the story goes, Vashti was busy entertaining other women and doing her own thing. She decided to defy the king’s authority and refused to comply with his wishes. This got the king very mad at her and his advisers immediately decided to advise him to have her dethroned and replaced.

Today, we study the story of Esther not from the point of the beautiful and obedient Esther but from that of Vashti, the queen who got comfortable, who relaxed and who forgot that her husband was the king who issues a decree and it gets established or you get punished. Imagine this analogy whereby God is our King Ahasuerus and we are his bride. The world in which we live is the catwalk. He wants us to go around parading our beauty: our obedience to His words, our love for others and generally our beauty. He wants the world to see out behaviours and ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over how well put together we are, over how good natured we are, over how kind we are, our level of patience, joy, peace, long suffering, meekness, humility, respect, etc.

But do we answer His call? Are we Vashtis, blatantly ignoring the call of our King, busy with life? Are we already too familiar with God, believing God will understand, He is love and His mercies endure forever forgetting that the same Lamb is a Lion and the same Lover of our souls is a Consuming Fire? Have we started taking grace for granted quoting Romans 5:20, ‘20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound’ whilst totally ignoring what follows shortly in Romans 6:1-‘What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.’

Have we grown so accustomed to sinning with the plan to ask for forgiveness afterwards? Who do we think we deceive? God cannot be mocked. God cannot be fooled. He knows all. He sees all.

This life is a catwalk. The roads on which we drive are catwalks. Our workplaces are catwalks. Our homes are catwalks. Our relationships are catwalks. We have the opportunity to daily represent God and make Him proud as He points us out: ‘There goes Ijeoma doing my will’, ‘Look at Rita making me proud’, ‘Watch as Damola handles that situation with love’. We need to have this thought on our minds everywhere we go.

But there is a truth I have come to discover: by strength shall no man prevail. Many a time I have listened to a sermon that had me charged in my spirit and then I vow to work hard as ever to be as good as ever. As soon as I wake up and start my day, things fly in my face that absolutely FRUSTRATE me and before I can say Caramel Latte three times, I’m already back to my normal fleshly ways and I get even more frustrated that I could not hold on to my vow for up to 4 waking hours. That was in my days of ignorance, my days of thinking I have the power to do good in me. No I don’t. I need grace. I need strength. And all these, I can only get from God. We need to lean on God and on His ever sufficient grace as we grace the catwalk of life.

That is the irony of walking with God. You don’t do much walking. He practically carries you all the way. You need, however, to realize that you are weak and you need help and you will be surprised at the way He will rush in and help you.

I pray God will carry on strengthening us in this walk so that we do not fall and disgrace the designer…

Have a great day people.

Did I tell you guys I’m a bridesmaid this Saturday?!!! Well, I am going to be a bridesmaid and I wish the lovely couple a great day and more importantly a happy and fulfilling marriage.